IBM’s (NYSE:IBM) first quarter revenue and net income dipped compared to year ago figures as the company saw a number of software and mainframe deals move into the second quarter after failing to close in the first.
Total first quarter 2013 revenue was $23.4 billion, down 5 percent compared to a year ago. First-quarter net income was $3.0 billion, down 1 percent year-to-year. But Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM reported diluted earnings of $2.70 per share, a year-to-year increase of 3 percent. The earnings per share and revenue figures fell short of analyst projections. But IBM CEO Ginni Rommetty tried to put a positive spin on the results, particularly as the deals from the first quarter close in the second.
“Looking ahead, in addition to closing those transactions, we expect to benefit from investments we are making in our growth initiatives and from the actions we are taking to improve under-performing parts of the business,” Rommetty said in a statement. “We remain confident in this model of continuous transformation and in our ability to deliver our full-year 2013 operating earnings per share expectation of at least $16.70.”
IBM made no mention of reports that the company was selling its x86 brand servers to Lenovo. Computer Reseller News reported that IBM is in active negotiations for a deal valued to be as much as $6 billion. But IBM appears to be making moves in parts of the company. A union leader told Agence France Presse that IBM plans to cut as much as 14 percent of its French work force. The job cuts will total 1,200 to 1,400 positions over two years, Gerard Chameau, a representative of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor, told the French wire service.
IBM maintains one of its largest sites in Research Triangle Park.
